Beloved rocket ship touches back down to Evans Park after more than a year

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - After more than a year and a half, one Black Hills park has gotten its beloved play structure back.

Evans Park in Spearfish, also fondly known to the public as “rocket ship park,” officially reopened to the public Monday night. For those unfamiliar with Rocket Ship Park and its history, the steel Rocket Ship slide was donated to the city more than 30 years ago by the Parker family who wanted to honor their son who passed away at a young age.

In 2022, many in the community felt the slide was no longer safe and was outdated which led to the structure almost being torn down. Even after raising 100 thousand dollars to renovate the slide, it wasn’t open to the public because safety inspectors wouldn’t look it over.

That’s when community contractors came together to get it up to code. One person even became a certified playground inspector to help get the structure up to code.

It passed its final safety inspection on May 15, just in time for the summer.

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